Between Venezuela and Columbia sits Los Llanos, a vast tropical grassland and home to the Whistler, El Silbon. If his nocturnal wanderings bring him to your door, listen for his mournful tune. Remember that the closer he sounds, the further away he is. Though if his song is distant, beware, for he is close.
As the story goes, there once was a boy who lived with his parents and grandfather. His family loved him greatly but spoiled the child, endlessly indulging his whimsical demands. As the boy got older, his demands increased, and his temperament grew darker.
One day, the boy went hunting with his father. Claiming that he spotted a deer deeper in the forest, he demanded that his father bring it to him. As his father searched for the deer, the boy crept up behind him and murdered him with his knife. Then he disemboweled and butchered his father and carried the meat back home, demanding that his mother cook it. When asked where he had gotten the meat, the boy said, “Father gave it to me.”
His grandfather saw through his lies and was enraged. He tied the boy to a tree and whipped him until the flesh flayed from his back. Then, he forced the boy to take him to his father’s corpse, collecting his bones in a large grain sack. As a final recompense, the grandfather cursed the boy, cursing him to carry the sack forever as a constant reminder of his crimes.
El Silbon is depicted as being exceptionally tall and emaciated. His tune is described as an ascending scale that goes C-D-E-F and then drops down an octave to G-A-B. However, if you hear his song, it is said to foretell your imminent death. Many believe that El Sibon chooses his victims from the ranks of drunkards and womanizers, stalking them on dark, deserted streets.
Others claim that he enters the homes of his victims in the small hours before dawn. There, he will empty his sack of bones upon their bedroom floor, quietly counting. If the person wakes up before the Whistler has finished counting, they will be spared. If not, then their bones will be added to El Silbon’s sack.
Jason Roberts is a Seattle-based author noted for his acclaimed western horror series The Dead Wind Trilogy as well as other works of cosmic horror infused with historical fiction. His web-based series, Dark Distractions, examines paranormal mysteries, unexplained phenomena, and all things strange.
